The Missing Child
by TheAnimeResonance
Summary: Lucy goes on a request and now is missing for 8 months. Natsu is the only one who believes that she is sill alive.


Lucy skipped all the way to the guild. Her keys and hair bounced up and down. Her happiness was all due to the fact that she paid her rent for the past few months she missed even the next month or so. She couldn't wait to get on another mission and have more money. Everyone smiled as she went flying past them. Her happiness was contagious to anyone who looked her way.

She arrived at the guild gates to hear silence. She pushed open the door and walked up to Mira, who was at her usual place. She saw that there was only a few people in the guild. Cana, had just began drinking. Elfman was preaching about how manly he was. She couldn't see Natsu, Happy, Erza, or Grey. They were always at the guild or out on a mission. But Lucy was there so they couldn't be on a mission. The blonde passed it off and continued to chat with Mira.

More and more people came into the guild but there was still no sign of her partner. Lucy had examined the board to see if there was a free job. Most of the jobs were for a group to handle. She noticed that there was a pin without a piece of paper being pinned to it. She bowed her head and walked away but then saw a job that literally had her name on. There wasn't a reward so it more of a request. Lucy grabbed the sheet and ran out the guild. Mira waving her off.

Natsu, Grey and Erza finally appeared at the guild doors. It had been several days since Lucy and left to go on her request. The trio plus Happy came bounding in and perched themselves on the stools at the bar.

"Welcome, you three." Erza wasn't paying attention to anything Mira had said to them, she was looking at the members of the guild.

"Where is Lucy?" The two males turned around looking for her.

"She is on a mission." Natsu stood up and slammed his hands against the bar. The noise scared everyone plus Mira.

"Who is she with?" He growled at the lovely Mira.

"Just herself." The trio gasped at the news. Natsu sunk in his chair.

"We are partners, why would she go on her own?" Mira stared at the three with disappointment. They were being such a hypocrite.

"Then why did you leave her and go on a mission with Lissana? Like you said you are partners and also a team." All three of them lowered their head. Mira was always right and that couldn't be helped.

"What mission did she take?" Natsu jumped up and grabbed Mira shoulders. The young woman was taking by surprise by the dragon slayers actions.

"I didn't see." She pried Natsu's hands off her. "She is a strong wizard she will be fine. Remember she is a celestial wizard, she has Loke and other strong spirits with her. Don't look down on her." Natsu sat up and smiled at Mira. She gave a gentle smile back.

Natsu and Grey didn't even fight when their close friend was out in solo mission. It had been six months since anyone saw her. The master didn't say much, he was still hopeful that she would come back. The trio went on all the missions just as a small team. They felt bad that they had brought Lisanna with them. She begged Natsu to go on their next mission but he declined her and said that it was an easy mission then we quickly ran off with his team.

Lisanna sat beside her sister at the bar. She was holding a cup of juice. She was looking at her reflection in the cup.

"Mira, what is the relationship between Lucy and Natsu?" She gently spoke as she continued to look at herself. Mira was slightly taking back by her question. It was the first time Lisanna asked about a boy.

"If I'm being honest, I think they have a deep and hidden relationship. They are partners after all." Mira said without trying to hurt her sister.

Natsu, Grey and Erza came into the guild with their head hung low. Natsu and happy sat at far away table from everyone else. Erza and Grey had joined him at the table. Natsu and Grey seemed so tense while Erza had her eyes closed and slowly breathed. Makarov jumped off a desk and walked up to the far end table.

"Any news?" He jumped onto the table and sat beside Erza.

"She attended her maid's daughters wedding, 6 months ago. That was the last they saw her. She was working her way back home after that." Makarov was just as depressed as Natsu and the others. One of his children were missing, and no one knew where she was.

"If we don't find her by the time this year ends, we can assume -I'm afraid to say it- that she is dead." Natsu couldn't protest he had to face the facts that she could be dead. Everyone in the guild lowered their head. No one would like to think that a team mate was dead. Especially one that managed to etch them self on everyone's hearts.

Natsu and Grey were itching to go find Lucy. They had begged the master to go several times but he turned their request down. Erza had giving up hope and just believed she was dead. Natsu and Grey knew she was alive, she was just injured. They were the only ones who believed that she was alive. Happy had giving up and was trying to persuade Natsu to do the same. Natsu refused his friend and carried on believing.

A few months closer to the date then she would be perceived as dead, Grey had joined the others and turned his back on Natsu. Now it was only Natsu believing on her strength to live. The fire dragon snapped at Grey and taunted him to fight Natsu. Grey took the taunting and walked up to him, ready to fight his friend to believe that Lucy was dead.

"Come on fried brains, just believe it." Natsu refused to believe it. He quickly retaliated and punched Grey in the face. Luckily the ice wizard dodge the hit and threw an ice attack back at him. The pair were in a heated battle with one another. Every was so fixated on them that they didn't see a hooded figure creep in and sit at a the bar. Mira quickly severed the figure without knowing they were there. The mysterious person slowly sipped on the water as they watched Grey and Natsu duke it out.

Grey punched Natsu in the face, sending him backwards. The fire Mage grabbed the hoodied figure and pulled them of their seat. Natsu fell hard on the floor with the cloaked person on top of them. They closed their eyes and lowered their face. Natsu opened his eyes and looked up at the covered figure. His frown broke into a smile.

"Lucy!" He sat up in a jolt wrapping his arms around her. The hood fell of with the sudden rush to sit up. Everyone turned around when they heard Natsu shout her name. They all cheered as they saw that she had returned.

She had slightly changed in the 8 months she was away. She had much longer hair that was the same length as Erza's. Her face had lost a lot of weight on it. She seemed so skinny and fragile. Natsu could feel the difference in her weight as she sat on him.

The young Mage was picked up by Levi and Erza, whom attacked her in a hug. Grey had decided to join the girls in the hug. Juvia glared at Lucy but she knew he did miss his friend and teammate. In her eyes this would be the last time, Lucy was able to touch her Grey.

Natsu pulled the blonde away from Grey, and gently shook her shoulders. He looked so worried about her.

"Where were you?" Lucy's eyes widened. She was shocked to hear him worry about her. She grabbed his hand and pulled him past Wendy and Gajeel, ushering them to follow. They dragon slayers looked confused at each other then followed Lucy up the stairs. She seemed so confident and strong.

Lucy lead the dragon slayers onto the balcony. Some of the guild followed them up. Lisanna watched her carefully as she causally touched Natsu. She had held his hand and still hasn't let go of it. The blonde jumped onto the railing and placed four fingers in her mouth and whistled. She held her hand in the air with her finger pointing to the air. She heard a large roar in the sky, then jumped down from the railing, satisfied by the sound she heard.

She watched a three large dragons flew towards the guild. She looked to the side of her to see Natsu almost in tears at the sight of the red dragon. Wendy was already in tears when she was the beautiful snow white dragon. Gajeel still had the same facial expression on. He did look that much impressed but Lucy knew he was happy at the sight of the metallic coloured dragon.

"Igneel?" Natsu asked as she slowly steeped forward. The red dragon nodded his head. Natsu smiled and ran forward and hugged the dragons snout. Wendy and Gajeel were already doing the same even though Gajeel's hug didn't last to long "I looked everywhere for you, dad." Igneel smiled and looked over his sons shoulder to see the girl who had found him.

"I was shocked to hear that when your little girl friend talked about you." Natsu looked round to Lucy who was facing the other way from him. He could see the embarrassment on her face.

"I hope none of you hurt her." All dragons shook their head. Erza was shocked to hear that Lucy had found Natsu's dragon. Gildarts was nearly dead because of a dragon.

"We didn't but Acnologia, the black dragon did. Luckily old fire breath was there." Grandeeny shoved the fire dragon with her head. "He showed him a thing or two with the help of the young girl." Lucy walked backwards and slid down the wall. Natsu turned around to see his friend tired and exhausted. Grey was sitting beside her holding onto her. The ice mage looked up and signalled that she was okay.

Natsu walked up to her and patted her head. Grey was happy that Natsu had proved him wrong, for once. He would hate to think that she was dead.

"I think she got stronger. I wonder how much stronger though." Natsu turned round to Igneel and the other dragons. They were just casually talking with one another. "Was she with you, this whole time?" Igneel shook his head.

"For five months, she stayed with me but there was a tournament she had to attend for the three months." Everyone was confused about the tournament. They never knew about such a thing.

"It was a celestial wizard tournament. It was to see who is the top celestial wizard. Turns out it was Lucy." Natsu and the others smiled at Igneels words. She was the strongest celestial wizard. She had beaten her other opponents.

Lucy woke up in a rush and opened her coat over the two boys. She was just in time when a knife was thrown at them. Lucy looked up to see her bounty on the fairy tail roof. She growled and ran towards the railing and stopped and looked at her teammates.

"You coming." Natsu, Erza and Grey broke into a smile and chased after Lucy. She sprang forward and clinged onto the roof. Everyone stared as she used her strength to pull herself up onto it the roof. As soon as Lucy was up she burst into a run up the roof top, then slid down the back. The others were right behind her. Natsu was closer to her. She and Natsu slipped off the roof first and fell into Igneel. Grey and Erza fell on Metalicana. Natsu held onto Lucy as Igneel flew high and chased after the bounty.

"God, I've missed this." He held onto her. His chin resting on her shoulder. Lucy smiled at his little statement.

"So have I." She managed to stand up and jumped of Igneel. Happy and Natsu was right behind her. Happy managed to catch Lucy and Nastu making them land nicely on their feet. Erza and Grey skillfully landed on their feet.

Lucy and the gang ran down the road catching Lucy's bounty. The man had exceptional speed but the gang was on his heels. There was no way he could get away. The blonde reached behind her and grabbed her whip. She managed to throw it behind her without hurting any of her friends then threw towards the male. The male tripped on her whip. Lucy sprinted forward and kicked him in the head, knocking him unconscious. She grabbed her whip and tied his arms around his back. Natsu kindly picked him up and threw the male over his shoulder.

"Wow, Lucy you have some speed." Lucy scratched behind her head at Greys comment.

"Yeah, a cowards only strength is running away. I use that strength to my advantage, now ."

The four walked back to the guild with Natsu dragging the bounty behind him. Everyone didn't act so surprised when they walked in. Only Makarov and Gildarts were waiting on the four. The master smiled at the job well done.

"Lucy, a word." Gildarts walked up to Natsu and took the male of him and tossed him over his shoulder. Makarov, Gildarts and Lucy walked to the masters office.

They tossed the male in the corner and stood in the office. Gildarts stood beside the master, facing Lucy. They both broke into a smile.

"It's great to see my child has returned. Thanks for the male, the counsel want me to deal with him. I have a question for you." Lucy nodded her to tell him to carry on. "Why didn't the dragons hurt you? Gildarts, is the strongest wizard, he couldn't hold his own against them."

"Before they could hurt me, Igneel protected me. He must of spelt Nastu." Lucy badly blushed. She hadn't been around Natsu in almost two weeks and yet his smell was still around her. "Most dragons are nice, if you feed them their element." Makarov dismissed Lucy and walked out the office with her.

Natsu didn't leave her side one bit. Everyone gathered around Lucy and congratulated her on being the strongest celestial wizard. Natsu didn't say it but she could tell he was thinking it.

"After I won, they gave me an extra key. The celestial wizard." Everyone "oh"ed at its name. They chanted for her to use it. Nastu placed his hand around her back and signalled them to be quiet. He didn't bother to move his arm and kept it hanging over her shoulder.

"Don't do it Lucy, I'm guessing it will use a lot of magical power. You just came back, you should really take it easy and let your muscles relax." Lucy laughed at his hypocrite comment but he was right, she was tired. She had trained every single day until the competition with no relaxation.

"Natsu's right, I should take it easy." Lucy stood up, brushing her clothes. "If you excuse me, I need to go home." Lucy walked past her friends and towards the door.

"Wait, I'll escort you." Natsu shouted to her and ran towards her. Every one sniggered at his way to hide his feelings towards the girl. It was so cute that he was making up, lame excuses to be with her. Everyone knew that they had feelings for another, that's was Natsu's main reason for believing that she was alive. He wanted to tell her that he loved her.

Lucy lay in the bath while Natsu kindly cooked her a feast of food. He had restocked her fridge every month. Half of the time he would eat it with Happy. He also paid her rent so when she did come back, she wouldn't have to worry. Lucy was not bothered him being there as the kitchen was separate from the bedroom.

Lucy had filled up on the meal that Natsu had prepared for her. Ne had cooked to much, just to regain her strength and to put some meat in her bones. It was the first time she had eaten any of his food. She didn't even know that he could cook. Apparently Igneel and Mira had taught him to do it. He was really good with the skill.

Lucy lay on her bed with Nastu sitting on her chair. He wasn't ready to go home yet.

"Natsu, I'll be fine. You should get some rest as well." Natsu shook his head. He simply kept his eye on her. Lucy sighed then moved closer to the window. She removed the covers revealing the blanket. She patted the beside her.

"If you are going to stay, lie here." Lucy turned around so she couldn't see as Natsu climbed into the bed. They were sharing the bed, not sleeping together.

Natsu had his back to Lucy. It would be awkward to look her in the eye as he lay in her bed.

"Congrats, Lucy." He whispered to her. He heard her moan a 'thank you back'. She only wanted him to congratulate her, even if no one else did. She would know that he was proud of her.

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**That's the end, everyone. I hoped you enjoyed it. I will soon be writing another NaLu story but it mainly GrLu. It will become more clear when I write the summary of it. Please review my story, please tell me how to improve. If there was something that annoyed you, nicely ask and I will fix/improve it. **


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